Shopping as it should be.

'Shopping as it should be'  used to be the slogan of Irelands largest food chain, in fact it might still be, we don't watch adverts so wouldn't know, but I would dispute the claim from any supermarket that that is 'shopping as it should be'. A super market for us is somewhere where we HAVE to buy our milk and butter, we have no choice, it's the only place where we can buy Organic milk and butter,  the only other use we have for them is cat and dog food and toilet paper.
 This week we discovered we were running short of meat, we are down to ducks and some rabbit until the next  chickens are ready. We had run out of beef, we had tried the local butcher but due to a late spring the beef was not particularly nice, it clearly was not grass fed.

We had heard a couple of good reports about the Farmers Market in Boyle, a small town about 25k from here so decided that we would make the effort to get up early and pay a visit, we had been warned to get there early as the Organic butcher sells out if you leave it too late.

We arrived just as the stall holders had finished setting up, everything looked beautiful and so fresh! There was also a very good variety of things, the bread smelt wonderful but we always make our own so it was not something we were looking for. Everything on the butchers stall looked wonderful, so we have stocked up for the next couple of weeks, a lovely beef joint, two different types of sausage, pork chops and minced beef, price wise we can't comment, it all seemed reasonable to us.

We also bought some un-dyed  smoked haddock and fresh asparagus, something neither of us can resist. Tonight we will have a gourmet meal, Organic pork chops, new potatoes, our own! and fresh asparagus, followed by yet more strawberries.
I am pleased that we arrived early as by the time we left it was very busy, with a long queue for  the butchers stall.

We were all gently serenaded by a harpist, so lovely,. Now THIS is what  I call shopping as it should be!

The broad beans will be our first summer crop, beans have set well, hopefully by next weekend we will have our first feast of them. Every seed that I had sown in the key hole garden germinated, three different type of true spinach and swede, unfortunately this will have to be thinned, and it's not a plant that transplants well so a lot will have to be wasted, I had thought that I had sown thinly, clearly not thinly enough.

The pond is now just about finished, it looks very nice, all we need now is some rain to help establish the plants!

Water beetles , pond skaters and water boats men have already taken up residence.
 The grass is growing very fast so it has now all been strimmed back, we will let it wilt down a little and then use it as  mulch around our young trees to help retain the moisture around them, we  will  also have to have a purge on slugs, as the comfrey  is  now growing well I will cut some leaves and place them where we wish to control the slugs, as soon  as comfrey wilts,  slugs head for it, it is then easy to pick them off  and drown them, if left in the  water for a few days, this can then be used around susceptible plants as a further slug control although it stinks, it works.